We used the past tense in referring to their relationship, but that doesn’t mean Bendall is no more.

According to a new report from Us Weekly Kendall and Ben “are not together but they’re hanging out.”

Whatever that means.

“They’re not exclusive and they’ll never be boyfriend [and] girlfriend, but they’re still having fun and hooking up,” says an insider close to the former couple.

“Kendall likes hanging out with Ben – he’s funny and can relate to a lot of things that Kendall relates to.”

Oh. “Hanging out.” Gotcha.

So Kendall and Ben are “friends with benefits” or they’re in a “no strings attached” situation, and there may be additional 2011 rom-coms that accurately describe their situation.

The question is, why?

If these two get along so well, and they’re sexually compatible, and they’ve been in each other’s lives for at least the past six months, why not make it exclusive?

The answer seems to be that logistics would make their relationship a nightmare, and Kendall — being smarter than her older sisters — realizes wealthy dudes in their early 20s who are on the road all the time aren’t particularly well-equipped for monogamy.

“He’s in the spotlight and understands that they need to be on the down-low. He also travels and works as much as she does, so it works for them.”

“Kendall values her privacy more than any of her sisters, so you will rarely see [her and Ben] out together officially.”

It also sounds like the 23-year-old model kind of wants to keep her options open.

There have been reports of Kendall and Anwar Hadid dating, and since no anonymous sources who are really reps for Kendall have come forward to deny it, we’re gonna assume those two really are just friends.

So maybe Kendall takes a more modern view of love and relationships.

Or maybe she just looked at how much her sisters have been cheated on and decided to remain unattached for as long as possible.